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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28238169">Under the waves or above them, I'll love you just the same.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/qaz92/pseuds/qaz92'>qaz92</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Amnesia, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drowning, Language Barrier, M/M, Masturbation, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Memory Loss, Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Not Beta Read, Slow Burn, Wilderness Survival, content warnings might change, i think this fic is Mostly wilderness survival, injury mention, like a truly absurd amount of words dedicated to wilderness survival, merman sidon, more tags to be added later as i figure them out, sorry if you dont like wilderness survival as a trope i guess?, tbh i dont know where im going with this one</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:15:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,070</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28238169</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/qaz92/pseuds/qaz92</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>His name is Link. He has a pair of tan pants with nothing in the pockets, a pair of black boots and grey woolen socks, no shirt, but he remembers having one while he was in the water. He's in a strange and unfamiliar place. He almost drowned. </p><p>He searches for more. There Has to be more right? Why was he in the water? What dragged him under? What hurt him? What saved him? Where was he? Where was he from? What brought him to this fate? </p><p>He let his head thunk back on the old wood behind him, wincing at the way it made his headache lash in protest, grimacing against this grim realization.</p><p> He knew his name was Link, but who was Link?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Link/Prince Sidon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>72</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>ive decided bmz needs serious edits before i continue it, and im just not in the head space to deal with that. </p><p>So, for the time being at least, instead enjoy something more well put together and more in character, with more spell check, even if it is significantly less planned out. </p><p>tbh this one is mostly just bc i wanna try out this abo stuff but im completely incapable of writing porn without at least ten thousand words of plot on either side.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The waters raged along with the storm as he struggled to keep his head above the crashing waves. Gasping for every breath he could risk as his struggles got weaker and the storm pelting him from above stronger. His back burned, the muscles refusing to work as he tried desperately to find his bearings enough to find shore. </p><p>Something crashes into him and drags him beneath the water. </p><p>He struggles in it's hold. His eyes sting with salt as his lungs beg for the breath they hadn't been able to steal before being pulled under. The darkness that surrounds him is absolute, and the blackness that eats at his vision as his air runs out is unrelenting. He stays conscious just long enough to feel his lungs fill with water as his stupid body makes the mistake of trying to pull in a breath.</p><p>He wakes slowly at first. Floating to the surface of consciousness, his throat burns, and his lungs protest with every heaving breath. Something cold and wet and mercifully numbing presses over his back, prodding the wound and chasing away the tearing hurt as he drifts in this half awake state. He falls away soon enough, the presence beside him and the weakness inside of him is enough to let him slip back under.</p><p>The  next time he wakes he's coughing and sputtering. His skin burning against the hot sand and the sun sending spikes through his pounding head as he gasped his way back to consciousness. </p><p>He's alone on a small alcove between two cliff faces. Struggling to his feet and squinting against the sun he tries desperately to parse where he is.</p><p>He's doesn't recognize landscape, or the small dilapidated cabin he stumbles towards without thought, his still water logged boots weighing him down with every step. He needed to be out of the light, that he needed somewhere safe where he could recover before-</p><p>Before what? </p><p>He struggled with the door to the cabin, the rough wood groaning in protest as it swumg open on ancient hinges after he through his shoulder into it, forcing the wood around the latch to splinter enough to allow him entry. Bits of old furniture, and dead bugs, and droppings from scavengers long gone littered the dreary and dark little place. </p><p>He collapsed against a wall, uncaring of the dust and detritus around him. He was just grateful to be sat somewhere cool and dark and safe from whatever he had just been through.</p><p>His back throbbed dully and his head echoed it sharply as he stared at the boarded windows of this drab place and took stock.</p><p>His name is Link, that part came easy at least, he has a pair of tan pants with nothing in the pockets, a pair of black boots, and grey woolen socks, but no shirt, but he remembers having had one while he was in the water, though. He's in a strange and unfamiliar place and he almost drowned. Or maybe he did actually drown? </p><p>He searches for more. There Has to be more right? Why was he in the water? What dragged him under? What hurt him? What saved him? Where was he? Where was he from? What brought him to this fate? </p><p>He let his head thunk back on the old wood behind him, wincing at the way it made his headache lash in protest, grimacing against this grim realization.</p><p> He knew his name was Link, but who was Link?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Link's survival instincts kick in and allow him to start carving out a little safety for himself, but something is watching him.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Link doesn't ponder anything for long. As far as he is concerned there's no point in getting caught up in his thoughts right now. He needs to figure out his basic needs at least before he has a post-near-death-experience flavored existential crisis.</p><p>He gets back to his feet after the worst of his headache and light sensitivity passes. And goes over a checklist that feels more ingrained than his own name did. He has shelter, this cabin may be old, but it will probably shield him from enough rain and wind to make itself useful until he figures this out or finds something better. He still needs food, water, and potentially warmth depending on how cold it gets here at night before he can count his most basic needs covered.</p><p>Food will probably be the hardest, he has no weapons to hunt with and he doesn't recognize the plants in this area. Warmth may also be a problem, his cabin has a fire place and chimney, but their half crumbled nature makes Link wary of actually burning anything in his little wooden safe haven for the time being. But he does stil have the scraps from the old furniture and he can see fallen logs and branches in the forrest beyond his beach. Fire could be a hurdle, but he knows a few ways to get one started, if he can find the right things he'll be fine. Thouh, thankfully, water will be easy it seems. A decent sized creek feeds into the bay, and despite being narrow and shallow at it's outlet, it's fast moving and clear enough to be promising. He follows it up stream away from the ocean amd into the forest on instinct. Only pausing to take note of the small fish that dart between the rocks and soft looking green moss along the river bed. The fact the water is clean enough that it can sustain delicate life is an extremely good sign.</p><p>Eventually, he gets to a spot that feels right, far enough away from the ocean, clear, fast moving with nothing blocking the flow. After a final check for obvious signs of contamination, he kneels down beside it and cups his hands in the icy water. There's blessedly no strange taste when he brings it to his lips and drinks. </p><p>Link knows he'll need to find a way to carry water with him, but for now just knowing he has access to a good source makes his nerves rest just that little bit.</p><p>He wonders briefly where he learned how to tell if water was safe or not, and where he learned his survival list, and of all the ways to make a fire. He needs to stop dwelling on things. There will be plenty of time to think himself in circles once night falls.</p><p>He could see signs of deer pressed into the soft soil and he could hear birds and occasionally spot some fluttering through the trees. But with no knife or bow or spear or net they may as well not be there. </p><p>He could find a fallen branch to use as a very rudimentary spear until he could make something better, but that would limit him to fish. The ones in the stream were so small that they weren't worth hunting. Link knows might have better luck on the shore, hunting between the roots of the plants that grow right at the waters edge or along the borrows that have probably been dug into the banks, but the prospect of going near the ocean again sent dread through to his core. </p><p>He found a fallen branch with off shoots big enough to work, dragging the whole thing back to his cabin before snapping off his make shiftspear, leaving the rest to be used as fire wood when he got back. Link told himself he could be a coward when he had food in his stomach.</p><p>The ocean lapped passively at the shore. Calm and gentle under the blue sky despite the darkness of the deep waters. Link followed the shore line, scanning the shallows for any signs of fish or crabs or mollusks as he went.</p><p>For a discouraging length of time he saw nothing, like every living thing had already been hunted out of these waters. Link did not want to dwell on the implications of that quite yet.</p><p>Still, he followed the waterline. Still, he found nothing. His stomach churned and growled as he turned back towards the way he came. The sun would be setting soon and he needed to sort out the cabin before it did.</p><p> In the morning he could go back into the forest to start trying to find some edible plants. It was riskier than meat, but he thinks he could figure out which ones were safe given a day to do so, even if they all looked so foreign to him. </p><p>His attention was caught by movement in the water, stopping him in his step. A massive red fin, easily as tall as his arm is long breached just beyond the center of the alcove. He watches it cut through the waves before disappearing back beneath the surface. Link swallows hard and thanks what ever power it was that let him find the shore before that thing found him. At least now he knew the waters were good, if they had enough prey to sustain something like that… He hoped it didn't mind sharing. </p><p>It wasn't until he was almost back at the cabin that he spoted the blue fabric bundle that rested in the center of his beach just beyond the reach of the tide. </p><p>Realistically, he didn't need to approach it like it was a bomb about to go off, but that didn't stop him from going about this with the upmost caution. The only concrete memories he had made him feel that it would be just his luck for this to be a trap.</p><p>As Link drew closer, he saw it was a tattered shirt wrapped around a water logged leather bag and a bundle of seaweed. </p><p>The bag and shirt felt familiar. The shirt had had its back ripped to shreds and the soft royal blue of its fabric felt like a color he liked. The brief pang of sadness over seeing it ruined was what made him not question it being his. The bag was in better shape, if only by a thin margin. The sea water would not be kind to the old thing once it dries but Link resolves to do what he can to salvage it. Inside he finds a thoroughly ruined journal, a small coin pouch with a little bit of money, a shirt and some jewelry he doesn't think is his, and blessedly, a decent pocket knife, a mostly empty canteen, and a small flint and steal lighter. </p><p>Who left this for him? It obviously didn't just wash up like this, but in his exploration he hadn't seen any signs of another person having been here since the cabin was abandoned.</p><p>He sees that fin out in the water again. His mind provides him with the word "shark" and the image of how Big something connected to that fin would have to be. It circles for a moment before disappearing again. Link feels watched even as it leaves. Like a squishy little monkey stranded half naked and alone with no memory and a massive apex predator seemingly standing between him and food.</p><p>Link watches the water more than the bundle as he gathers everything into his arms. Not bothering to inspect the seaweed before taking it along with him back to the cabin. It was silly to be so scared of a fish while he was on land, but still, he didn't need to meet that particular sea monster. </p><p>He set the bundle down in his corner. With the sky pinking as the sun began to set he couldn't risk wandering out again. He had his lighter and the dry log just outside his door, if it got to cold in here he could go out there and burn it, but for now he might as well use the last of his daylight to clean a patch on the floor to let his things dry and to give him a space to sleep without waking up more caked in grime than he already was. </p><p>The ruined shirt went down first. He would keep it, he was certain he could use it for something. Even if that something was just finding comfort within its familiarity. Then, the bag was emptied, the new shirt was laid out along side his socks and the emptied bag. </p><p>The seaweed bundle was ignored until now, purely because as far as Link could tell, it was just a tangled mass of inedible seaweed.</p><p>But, as he pulled it apart just to have something to do as the last light of the day started vanishing, he found it to have two, already cleaned, fish tucked safely inside and seemingly kept fresh by the plants. </p><p>He gawked at them. Their heads looked to have been bitten off, leaving a messy edge, but the slit along the bellies was clean, as though made by a knife. A person did this. Undeniably, a person did this and left them for him, but who and why? His skin crawled when he thought of how he had felt watched on the beach. was this some sick game? Was there someone orchestrating this? </p><p>He wasn't stupid, he knew the bundle Had to have been left by someone, but the fish changed the tone of the gift to much. The other items in it were believably his, maybe someone had just found them washed up elsewhere and spotted him, and then left them without saying anything to avoid conflict. </p><p>The fish were deliberate. Someone knew he was hungry, someone caught these, and then gutted them and wrapped them in seaweed and left them along with his stuff on the beach.</p><p>Unsurprisingly the two dead fish in his lap didn't give him the answers he wanted.</p><p>He grit his teeth and grabbed his lighter and shitty stick he was fooling himself into thinking was a spear and set outside the cabin to break off a chunk of the branch to burn for fire wood. </p><p>As Link sat down to wait for the fish to cook, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Far beyond the reach of his cooking fire, and just beyond the shore line. Two eyes reflected light back at him from the darkness. They were far above the water, almost where he would expect a very tall hyllian's eye line to sit. They blinked as they held him frozen in their gaze. and then the creature they belonged to drifted back into the darkness beneath the waves. Leaving Link a lot more certain he didn't want to meet whoever, or whatever left the bundle for him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Link figures out food and stands his ground with the monster.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>alt title for this fic: the author desperately wants to go camping again.</p><p>in other news, i think this fic officially counts as a slow burn. 3000 words in and the pairing hasn't even spoken to each other yet. but tbh im awful with tags. do yall have any tag recs for this fic? or like things youd like to see in it? ive got a rough outline for things now. but i kinda want to do some exploration with it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Link struggles to sleep that night. </p><p>But still, he manages to get some shut eye before sunrise. He doesn't dream and for that he is thankful. </p><p>Today he needs to get water from the stream, sort out food, finish cleaning out the cabin, and explore more. If he can find a foot path or a road or just some other sign of civilization he might be able to escape this awful little beach and whatever that thing had been.</p><p>Admittedly he had no idea what he would do once he found other people. He had no memories, barely any money, and no idea if he'd even speak the same language as who ever he found. Something told him he had struggled with communicating with others in the past do to a language barrier. Maybe he spoke a rare language? Was he from somewhere remote? That may explain where he learned to survive, maybe this sort of day to day had been his everyday back home do to being cut off from others. </p><p>He eyed the ocean as he left his cabin, he knew to be grateful to see no signs of the sea monster, but without proof of it, he worried that maybe he'd just imagined it. </p><p>Shelter, water, food, warmth. His basics were covered. Safety was more of a crap shoot, besides the sea monster there didn't seem to any predators large enough to pose a threat to him in the area, or at least he hadn't found sign of them yet, but the sea monster might be threat enough. He would start getting isolation sickness soon if he doesn't find someone soon, though, and it wouldn't take long for madness to set in without something to keep his mind occupied.</p><p>He couldn't do anything about the lack of company but he could definitely find things to keep himself occupied with. He had a shitty little cabin in need of remodeling after all. Link resolved to start working towards an axe. That was an easy first step at least, a nice simple goal to keep him out of his own head a little bit longer. </p><p>He gathered his water, filling his canteen as much as he could after drinking his morning's fill, found some more fire wood, and a few stones that seemed right for knapping. </p><p>Link gathered what he could, filling his bag as he went back and forth to the cabin, even taking a few plants that looked promising with him. </p><p>He wandered the forest, always staying close to the creek to avoid getting lost as he went. No foot paths or bridges made themselves known. No camp grounds, or litter, or any places that looked to have ever been cleared made themselves known. He was far from other people. Alone and stranded. </p><p>The trek back to the cabin, despite productivity of the day, felt pointless. Link trusted that he could survive out here for the time being, but nobody could survive completely alone. Eventually he'd get sick, or hurt, or the seasons would change, or a storm would steal his cabin, or the sea monster would snag him from the shoreline. He was going to die on this awful little beach, and no one would be the wiser. </p><p>There was another bundle, just seaweed this time at the waters edge. </p><p>This had to be a trap. Something to lure him within grabbing distance of the sea monster.</p><p>He eyed it, shifting from foot to foot and fiddling with the strap of his bag. Link was good runner, or at least he thought he was, and the sea monster probably couldn't get far onto shore without risking getting stuck… </p><p>He left his bag by the door of the cabin, if the beast did launch out at him he didn't want it to be able to snag him by the strap. </p><p>Cautiously he approached the bundle. keeping his eyes more on the water than his goal and watching for any signs of the beast as he grabbed it and retreated back up the shore.  </p><p>Another two fish were wrapped up in it, cleaned, and with their heads bitten off like the ones from last night. </p><p>Link wrapped them back up and took them back to the cabin. He needs to find a way to feed himself, relying on these gifts is too dangerous. </p><p>He places them to the side and gathers a few of the plants he'd found. The large root vegetables were the most promising so he started with them. He cut the stalk off of a large red one and shaved off some of the skin. The bitter smell that wafted from the cuts were enough to make his lip curl as he worked, it may not taste pleasant but food was food. He took a small slice of it, the red meat of it stained his fingers as he pressed the scrap to the inside of his wrist. Holding it there, he waited to feel an itch or stinging or burning, or anything else that would be a dead give away for it not being safe to eat. A few minutes pass, but no reaction occurs. He sighs and rubs the red juice from his wrist, checking for a rash or discoloration, when he found none he smilled. Link knew he still had to give it time in case one developed, and he needed to cook the tuber  to be safe and check to make sure it didn't make him sick before he could count them as a food source. But it was progress, and that was enough. </p><p>The rest of the afternoon was spent knapping outside in the shade of his cabin. The muscle memory was still there as he cracked one rock against the other again and again until he had a decent edge but the knowledge behind it alluded him. He knew roughly what knapping was, what he could do with it, and what to do with the final product, but he didn't know the specifics he felt he once did. He couldn't see the faults he felt he should have before they destroyed the stone he was working on. </p><p>Though, as the sun began to set again he could tell he'd made progress. That by the next sunset his crude little hand ax would be done and he could begin work processing wood into… something for his cabin. </p><p>He lit his fire for the night, cooked his fish and the red tubers he's decided to call radishes, and for the first time since washing up he felt he had this a little under control. Even as the darkness of night cloaked the cove around him and even as the sea monster dragged itself onto the shelf of the beach. It's eyes reflecting the light from Link's campfire back at him as it watched silently.</p><p>Link stared back. It probably couldn't get him this far up the coast, and while it's presence still made his blood run cold, he won't run from a fucking fish. </p><p>He eats sat beside his fire with the monster watching him from the bay before seemingly growing bored and slipping back beneath the waves. </p><p>Link smiles to himself, proud for not letting it chase him off. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Link finds a routine, and then goes into heat.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>4 chapters in and this is the first time anything abo gets mentioned. Fun. but hey, sidon will actually show up next chapter. probably.</p><p>anyways notes from the last chapter still stand, what do yall wanna see in this mess? no promises but like, im just vibin buds and am open to most recommendations.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>An easy pattern emerged over the next three weeks or so. Link would wake up, go out into the forest during  the morning to do his gathering, return to his cabin in the early afternoon to find another bundle, always with fish in it, sometimes with bits of shiny shell or pearls or jewelry or shards of sea glass tucked in along side them.</p><p>He'd spend the afternoon knapping or using the tools he made to cut down trees and process them into logs and rough planks. The first thing he had built was just a pallet of halved logs tied together with braided seaweed from the bundles the sea monster left, with a few more short logs laid out on the floor to support his new make shift bed. He had been so proud the first time he'd sat down on it to find that it supported his weight easily, and despite being a fair bit smaller than the bed that had rotted to pieces in the cabin before his arrival, it fit him just fine. He stuffed his ruined shirt with more seaweed to act as a pillow and slept easy that night. </p><p>His routine was easy once it got close to night fall. He'd light his fire in the pit he had dug out and lined with stones on day 8, and begin cooking his food. After darkness fell he'd look out to watch the sea monster haul itself onto the shelf. Only for the first few days did it watch him as intently as it had the first night. Eventually it started doing other things while it watched, or Link suspected it did. The shine from its eyes would be lower to the water some nights and blink in and out as it rested or it would turn to focus on something else, the only sign of it still being there was when it glanced back at him occasionally.</p><p>His initial apprehension of it still hung heavy in the back of his mind, but he had learned how to trick himself into thinking of the sea monster as company.</p><p>Starting about halfway through the second week he would occasionaly wait for it to get bored and disappear back into the ocean before he grabbed a  branch to use as a torch and and a small parcel wrapped in the leaves of the seaweed from the bundles. He didn't have something to offer every night, only when he had managed to find enough extra tubers and sweet grasses or when he took the time to knapp a stone into a spear head or a fish or bird. He would leave his bundle in the same spot as where he found the monster's, and would always find it gone and replaced when he returned from foraging the next day. </p><p>It had almost felt like a fair trade the first time the sea monster took his offering. It had definitely felt like a relief that it hadn't taken the measly tubers and spear head as an insult.</p><p>Link almost, Almost, felt like he could get used to this. Slowly improving the cabin piece by piece, foraging for his greens but accepting meat from the sea monster. Eating quietly with it after nightfall and occasionally leaving gifts for it by torch light.</p><p>But routine nagged at him, he needed to get away from here, to find his way to an escape.</p><p>Routine ate at him until it broke for the first time almost a month into his stay. </p><p>At first it just a persistent cramp that sat low in his back that he couldn't shake. It wasn't that bad, just a quiet nagging twinge every now and then, but it spread. On the third day it had climbed up his spine and wrapped around his neck and shoulders, a constant aching pressure that made it hard to go about his work. He had tried soaking in the creek, down stream from where he got his water, but the spring sun warmed water did nothing to make it abate. He was distracted too, some indistinct need was always pressing at the back of his mind. Maybe this was the isolation sickness setting in? Maybe if he just found someone this would be better, yeah, that's what he needed. He just needed to not be alone.</p><p>He had to clear his thoughts every few minutes as he struggled with his chores, today he was just clearing away debris from this last month, shards of stone too small to use, pieces of fish bone, and inedible scraps from his plants, and whatever else had managed to pile up, but that mindless work let his mind wander to how badly he needed someone right now. </p><p>During another fog headed pause he watched the fin out in the bay, it seemed like the sea monster was staying put near his beach today. Circling out in the water like it could smell his weak and distracted state.</p><p>It seemed nice though, his mind insisted. It fed him and brought him gifts and kept him company, that must mean it was nice, right? Maybe he had the wrong idea about the poor creature. It was obviously intelligent… It probably wouldn't hurt to wade out into the water to greet it, would it? </p><p>Link shook his head, sending bolts of sharp pain through his cramping muscles as he stopped that suicidal train of thought. He was desperate, but he needed to be smart. </p><p>He lit his fire and began cooking his food long before sunset, leaving his unfinished chores for the next day. He just needed to turn in. To sleep this off. </p><p>Normally, he could eat both fish left for him and a radish, but today he could barely get a mouthful down before it made him feel sick. Link watched the sea monster circle, as his fish cooled on the rock the sticks they were impaled on. Letting the fish go to waste felt wrong so he wrapped them and the radish back up in the seaweed and left it where he always left his bundles for the sea monste before forcing himself to leave the waters edge and go to bed.</p><p>He slept fitfully, constantly stirring at every little sound, gasping and delirious on his bed in the darkness of the cabin. His mind would betray him by putting the glow of the sea monster's eyes in the room with him, by trying desperately to make him think he wasn't as alone as felt while heat pooled under his skin. </p><p>The fever was the most unbearable part at first, his sweat stuck his hair to his forehead as he stripped his shirt and pants off to sit bare in the cold night air, but still the heat rose, making him feel hot and pink in the face.</p><p>By the time sun rise rolled around he was considering running back to the ocean just to find relief in the cool waves. </p><p>The part of him that could still form coherent thoughts struggled against the rest, it wanted to panic, to find this desperation frightening, but memories half formed would bubble to the surface. This was something he was used to, four times a year he would be reduced to something desperate and heat stilted.</p><p> Though his mind gave him the solution, and it sounded wonderful and beutiful and like if he could just make it work all this hurt would go away. If only he could just find someone to mount him, and fuck him into the wood of his bed, and hold him until the desperate pressure finally faded, he would be more than fine. Happy, and glad, and safe, if he just had someone to take care of him through this.</p><p>His mind put the glow of those eyes in his room again as he palmed himself, seemingly trying to remind him that the sea monster was probably still out in the bay, big and strong and so good at providing for him. Even as his mind failed to connect that fin and those eyes, he could think of no one else he would like to be under. To be fair though, it wasn't like he had anyone else to think about.</p><p>He rolled onto his front, propping ho knees under himself in a way that felt right. He stroked his weeping cock with one hand and reached behind himself to press his fingers into his slick hole with his other. Only two at first, but when he found that so awful and unsatisfying he forced all four in. The stretch of it made his cock jump in his hand as he moaned through his teeth. He didn't need to think about anything as he fucked himself on his fingers, digging then into the soft flesh of his walls as he sought out an orgasm that refused to come. Gasping, and desperate and mewling into the fabric of his pillow as he tried to force himself over the edge, but he only succeeded in making the fire in his gut burn hotter and stronger. His nerves were desperate and overwhelmed, and he knew from past mostly forgotten heats that without someone covering him he would find no release from any of this. No matter how he contorted, or spread his legs, or how deeply he fucked himself on his finger, Nothing would make a difference until he had someone elses sent, and their hands on him and their cock in him.</p><p>Even as everything whited out and his nerves numbed from oversensitivity he stayed hard and right on the wrong side of pain and pleasure. </p><p>Link felt like he'd spent eons crying and desperate and with four fingers buried to the knuckles in his ass and rubbing his cock raw, even if he knew it was only a day. </p><p>When it finally passed early the next night and his body let him find release without someone else, the sheer relief that wracked his every nerve ending, and that made him arch from the bed as he came across his stomach and clenched around his fingers one last time, was enough to make him blackout and sleep sound into the next morning.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Link recovers and makes a new friend</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ok, so you know how Nintendo said "what if we just put an entire shark on the back of this mans head"? Now get ready for this.</p><p>A Second Shark. Double the number of sharks attached to our boy. Downside is he no longer has legs. Don't worry about it.</p><p>comments? concerns? something you wanna see in this fic going forward? just wanna tell me about your day? leave all of that below.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="title">
  <p>5</p>
</div><p>Link slept in well past noon, and when he did struggle to consciousness it was to a pervasive sense of grime and stickiness that felt like it coated him head to toe.</p><p>He groaned as he sat up and rubbed at his sore hips and lower back. First things first would be to drag his sore ass to the river to clean off as much as he could without soap (godess how he missed soap) but even the short trek to the sectiom of creek he bathed in felt almost insurmountable. Eventually, regardless of his legs threats to give out under him, he stood and stumbled to his door with his clothes tucked under his arm. He didn't see a point in getting dressed and worsening the stench that already clung to the fabric when he was just going to strip again here in a few minutes to wash both them and himself.</p><p>He regretted that decision almost immediately, the moment he stepped out of his door in fact, as he saw the sea monster out of the water and out from under the cover of darkness for the first time.</p><p>It was massive and strange in a beautifully bizzare way. With a long, sleek sharks body that stretched out into the water behind it and an almost hlyian torso stretching from where the sharks head would be. Even with Link's mostly vacant memory he knew it was unlike anything he had ever seen before.</p><p>The fin that Link had been seeing out in the bay hadn't done nearly enough to prepare him for the sheer bulk of the creature that would be attached to it. The transition between the shark hyllian halves of the sea monster was completely seamless, the creamy white of its belly scales and the sharp red that ran along its sides and flanks followed the curves of its long torso andup its long neck. The face that stared back, with wide, surprised eyes that reflected sharp gold from beneth the ridge of a wide crest clearly, even as Link stood a good 30 feet away. The crest transitioned smoothly into a second tail, smaller, but still similar to the one that compromised the lower half of the sea monster's body. Soft fabric adornments and sturdy looking yet intricate armor draped across it's torso, a clear sign that whatever it was, it was civilized and more intelligent than Link had maybe been giving it credit for.</p><p>Link couldn't deny that the sea monster was enrapturingly handsome. Even if he did want to claim that it was just left over hormones and desperate need for company.</p><p>The sea monster had been reaching out from the water to place one of those bundles in its usual spot, but like Link, he had frozen in place and starred back at the naked hyllian with surprise and confusion carved into his feature.</p><p>It wasn't until it shook it's massive head, sending that secondary tail wagging as it cleared its thoughts, that Link's brain managed to catch up. He retreated back into the cabin, slamming the door shut behind him as a strange mix of fear and curiosity and embarrassment sent him collapsing dumbly back onto his bed.</p><p>Well, at least he knew how the eyes and the fin connected now.</p><p>Link rubbed his red face and huffed a laugh to himself. Of course this is how this would go. Of course! He briefly considered staying here on his stupid little pallet bed until he rotted away, but instead resolved to wait until his heart stopped thundering in his chest so that he could get dressed and maybe go greet the sea monster, say thank you for the fish, and see if the damn creature might be able to help him get to somewhere a little safer than the a remote little cove.</p><p>He took a few breaths before dressing properly, wincing at how greasy his hair felt when he went to tie it up. With a final moment to steady himself, and to grab his pocket knife just incase. Link creaked the door open slowly, peering through he slit to see if the sea monster was still there.</p><p>It, or he? Link supposed he should stop calling him an it. He seemed like a person, and if Link gave the stag that sometimes beat him to the good tubers the honor of being addressed with a person's pronoun, than he should probably do the same for the sea monster.</p><p>Anyways, He, the sea monster, wasn't still on the shore, though his fin breached the waves not far from it. Link shuffled the short distance and grabbed the bundle and hesitated for a moment. How should Link go about drawing his attention? He sat down on the shore, pulling his boots and socks off and rolling up his pant legs. He didn't want to get in the water with the sea monster, but Link was hopeful that as long as he stayed close to the shore he could get out of the water and out of the sea monster's reach should anything happen.</p><p>Link took a deep breath as he stood and stepped into the ocean for the first time since he almost drowned in it. The water was cool against his skin and the salt that permeated the air on the shore stung his nose as he breathed. A few more steps into the water was all it took for him to start feeling the strong push and pull of the tide. Something in his chest stuttered and tied itself in knots, even if he rationally knew he was unlikely to drown in this moment, his mind felt it pertinent to remind him of the specific agony that had come with his lungs filling with the burn of icy salt water.</p><p>He was sluggish to react to the fin turning in the water and speeding towards him, but panic still managed to tug him into action and out of his anxious stupor. He darted backwards, or stumbled and fell backwards, more accurately put. He landed ass first in the damp sand as the sea monster shot out of the water. He landed with a wet splash a meer few feet from Link, wincing from the impact with the sand.</p><p>The breath had been smacked out of him, and he took a moment to find his air again and his words a moment later as Link starred wide eyed up at him.</p><p>"Hello!" the sea monster coughed, "Hi! Greetings?" he spoke with an excited tone and a posh accent as he tried to find his words, "No? not one of those? Oh! Kon'nichiwa? Guten tag? No? Oh I don't think I know any other hyllian greetings…"</p><p>Link starred dumbly before raising a hand to wave a greeting in return. The sea monster was a lot less… intimidating than he was expecting.</p><p>"So one of those Was right? What language do you speak? Please tell, I have so many questions!" He smiled broadly, sharp teeth glimmering in the sunlight as he leaned forward to hear Link's words.</p><p>Words that would not come. Link had wondered if he spoke a strange dialect, only now to remember that he couldn't speak at all. He tried, but his throat just constricted tightly instead of letting any sound pass through.</p><p>"Is something wrong? Can you not understand me still?" The sea monster asked with his head cocked,</p><p>Link shook his head and shifted to hold up his hands, maybe he'd get lucky and the sea monster would understand sign? "I understand, I just can't speak." He held his hands to his throat and shuck his head for good measure.</p><p>"You can not speak?" The sea monster clarified for himself.</p><p>Link noded.</p><p>"Well, that complicates things, but at least it seems you can understand me, and with time, I'm sure I can learn to understand you!" He nodded resolutely.</p><p>Link smilled up at him nervously as he got back to his feet, the sea monster sure was… boisterous might be the right word. He gestured to the bundle on the sand and gave an awkward thumbs up before signing "Thank you,"</p><p>The sea monster coppied his signs, "Was that… The thumbs up was obvious positive and you smiled, I'm guessing that wasn't the word for fish?"</p><p>Link blinked at him but nodded, for some reason he hadn't been expecting the sea monster, who probably has a name now that Link thinks about it, to immediately start trying to understand him.</p><p>The sea monster repeated the sign, "Were you saying you liked the fish?"</p><p>Link shook his head, he didn't want to try and add to many signs at once but still he responded with "Close,"</p><p>The sea monster coppied that one too, "Close? were you saying I was close?"</p><p>Link Smiled and nodded as the sea monster's grin widened he repeated the sign for "thank you" a few more times as he tried to figure it out.</p><p>"You weren't saying fish, or that you liked it… Were you saying 'Thank you?'"</p><p>Link nodded again as the sea monster clapped his hands together, "Well!" he signed "Thank you," before switching back to spoken "For teaching me this new language! I know one similar, but it seems we use very different signs for the same words,"</p><p>Link rubbed the back of his neck and tried to return the smile, "What's your name?" he signed slowly, the sea monster mirroring him as he did. Link made a mental note to start trying to get the sea monster to make the signs with the right hands instead of just mirroring him.</p><p>"That ones… this one is a sentence?" the sea monster asks, giving time for link to nod before signing "what" over and over, "This one is a question?" his brow furrows,</p><p>Link nods and gives him a thumbs up as encouragement,</p><p>"What?" he offers and grins when he gets a nod, "What, what, what," he repeats the sign a few times, "Can i get the rest again?"</p><p>Link repeats himself, "What's your name?" he wants to be frustrated with the sea monster but there was something contagious about his eagerness and broad smile every time he picked out another piece of the puzzle.</p><p>"Ok, What…" he repeats the sign, " What's your? you pointed at me, so I think you were referring to me, so... What's your… Name? That would make sense given the circumstances… Right?"</p><p>Link smiles and nods and repeats the signs one more time, hopeful for an answer this time.</p><p>"Oh! Excuse my rudeness! I don't have to introduce myself very often you see, well, I'm P- Sidon. Just Sidon." he smiles, "And what's yours? I'm fairly decent at a few hyllian writing systems so I'm sure I can figure it out!"</p><p>Link's smile tightens before he crouches down to write his name in the sand. It would have been Very nice if Sidon had just said he could read, and would have made this all go a bit faster.</p><p>"Link? It's wonderful to finally get to speak to you! When we first met, well... I was a bit worried we wouldn't get the chance at a proper conversation," He smiled a little softer, "Have you been healing well? I spot you occasionally when I come visit, but I've alway been a tad… Worried about approaching you first."</p><p>Link gestured for him to slow down and wiped his own name from the sand to replace it with a different message, "We've met before?" he signs what he's written for good measure.</p><p>"Yes, During the battle you got knocked off that big boat and into the water! I- Well, there was so much blood, but you were so small and we were the aggressors and." he stops himself, "Excuse my rambling, I just knew my conscious wouldn't have let me live if I'd finished you off or let you die, so i brought you here! It was the closest place I knew hyllian's lived,"</p><p>Link blinked at him, there was so much to take in from just those few sentences. Again he wrote and signed "What battle?"</p><p>"Do you not remember?" Sidon cocked his head and frowned when he got a head shake in response.</p><p>"Almost nothing," Link wiped away his message before starting again, "Nothing from before being here, and some survival stuff, but nothing about myself or my past other than my name."</p><p>Sidon had shifted to lay more fully on the sand, with his arms crossed under his chest as he occasionally propped himself up more or less to gesture with his words, "I'm so sorry my friend. I didn't know I had left you here without even a memory to help you along… Is that why you've stayed so long?"</p><p>"Yes, and there's no other people here. Or I haven't found signs of any others." He wiped his sandy hand on his pant leg, "What happened?" that felt like the most important question right now,</p><p>"Well… A patrol party saw this massive hyllian vessel crossing through our territory. There were a lot of people who got very scared, some members of the council included, and the decision was made to chase it out of our waters. It wasn't just that it was big, Hyllian's… have historically been bad news for us. With the fishing nets and you all poisoning the waters just being the start. That and the fact that many many years ago, during peace talks between our kinds, our princess, Mipha, fell in love with one of you and he killed her."</p><p>Link didn't know what to say, what could he say? Sorry someone the same species as me killed your princess?</p><p>"I'm going to be honest I've always had my doubts about that story… But the boat you were on, we managed to blow a hole in the hull and start it sinking as the nimble among our party got on deck. It wasn't a clean or pretty fight. Though the Hyllian's onboard were smart and fled in the life rafts. It was a clear retreat, even from my vantage still in the water... I know a few of them made it to safety, including the one you had been on before one of the guards knocked you over board with a spear. I think they had thought I was going to finish you off. But like I said, I couldn't do something that monstrous. So, I brought you here and healed you as best I could."</p><p>"Thank you," Link signs, and then continues with just writting in the sand, <em>I don't know what else to say. Thank you for saving me and for the fish and the bag and stuff. I appreciate it,</em></p><p>"Of course," Sidon nodded as he rolled onto his side, propping himself up on one elbow. "Though, I must apologize for avoiding actually talking to you until now, I may have been a little worried you would be as viscous as the Hyllian's in my lessons."</p><p>Link shrugged and huffed an awkward little laugh, <em>I thought you were a sea monster, so i was to scared to approach you until I knew you were not going to eat me.</em></p><p>Sidon laughed in turn, "No, no I'm not going to eat you."</p><p>There was a brief moment of silence before Link wiped away his message and wrote another, <em>Is there any chance of you helping me to a place with more Hyllian's?</em></p><p>"I would love too, and I know of a few, but I don't know how to get you there safely. They are far away and carrying you through the water is risky because smell travels far in the water, and if we were found out… it wouldn't end well for you. I'm sorry, my friend. But I know this island does get hyllian visitors from time to time. Smaller boats come out here at least twice a year for something or another."</p><p>Link stomped down the despair that bloomed in his chest before responding. <em>Do you know when they will be back?</em></p><p>"No, I don't," Sidon shook his head, "But, now that we're talking, I might be able to help out more until they find you! It's the least I can do for you, and besides I've always got time to kill nowadays. It would be nice to fill it with something instead of just swimming around in circles."</p><p>"Thank you," Link signs again.</p><p>"Its not a problem in the slightest my friend! Now, tell me what you need and I'll see what I can find,"</p><p>Link smiled, he was still stranded, but at least he had a theoretical access to more tools, and if the goddess is willing, some luxuries like soap. Plus, he wouldn't be alone as much. Sidon seemed nice and helpful even if he was a bit loud and overwhelming at times.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Link and sidon chat a bit and enjoy a meal together.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>be honest with me, is the glacially slow pace of this fic... enjoyable? ive been going for a more feel good comfort fic vibe with this one. but so far not a lot has happened. I do plan to pick up the pace fairly soon, but like, is the slower tone fun? or does there need to be more action? or what?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><br/>When Link did finally get to the stream to at least try and put a dent in the grime that tended to accumulate between his baths he had more to think about than he had before. </p><p>Sidon had had to leave soon after their chat, saying he'd gotten in a fair bit of trouble the day before for being a bit distracted from his patrol route, though, he didn't explain what had kept him distracted. </p><p>Link wondered what could have kept Sidon away from a duty that he clearly tended to take very seriously, given the sheer punctuality of his visits. He didn't seem the distractable sort.</p><p>He leaned back with a sigh to wet his hair, it wasn't as easy as just dunking his head, but his blood rate still spiked every time he tried to put his face under water. Had he been afraid of the water before he was knocked off the boat? Sometimes some fragment of a memory would slip through if he picked at where it should be long enough, but this void stayed in place. He knew how to swim, and he wasn't very good at it, but Link couldn't remember his former opinions on anything to do with water.</p><p>Combing his hair out with his fingers as he squeezed sections to start them drying, the drops that dripped down his shoulders from his hair were ice compared to his sun warmed skin, the chill wasn't the most welcome thing, but he wouldn't complain. Even if he did get a little frustrated trying to detangle an almost matted section. </p><p>He'd have to ask Sidon for a comb or a brush, it might be a little difficult to explain, but it would be nice to feel truly clean again, with no little mats weighing him down and making his scalp feel tight. But, that brought on even more questions.</p><p>Was feeling clean something rare to him before? He had no issue with grime, no persistent need to stay dirt free, just a need to stay clean enough he didn't feel at risk for illness or rashes, but why did he know how long he could go before he was risking bis skin?</p><p>He had calluses on his palms and the soles of his feet when he washed up, and small long healed scars littered his forearms and shins. Maybe he was a craftsman, or some kind of laborer? That didn't feel right. He could knapp, and carve, and build, but he didn't feel especially good at it. He could survive, that was something he felt he was good at, but what would someone's who's only skill was 'surviving' be doing on a boat like the one Sidon described? </p><p>Link started on his clothes next, he was thankful they had held up so well to being beaten and cleaned with just stream water to dislodge the dirt that clung between the fibers and sunlight to chase away whatever smell was left. He had learned to be grateful for the little mercies.</p><p>The shirt wasn't his. He knew that, but still it had felt familiar, maybe it belonged to someone he knew? No smell besides that of salt water had managed to stick with it, but the texture felt right. Like it, or something similar had been something he had handled often.</p><p>He pursed his lips as he laid everything out to dry, and stayed in the river a bit longer to try and let the rushing water chase away the soreness that still lingered in his muscles. Why did the Link from before feel like a different person? Like a stranger he was trying to parse from nothing and not truly himself? </p><p>Eventually, after he was left for a bit to long in his own thoughts, his clothes dried, and he left the water. Sidon would be back at sunset, and it was probably polite to try and find enough to cook for the both of them.</p><p>He gathered what he could before finally heading back to his cabin, his nose wrinkling at the sight of it. He lost almost a full two days to his heat and he could swear it showed. Realistically, it didn't, but idleness wasn't something Link tended to be able to accept from himself.</p><p>He resolved to ask Sidon for some nails first and foremost when he returned. Luxuries like soaps and combs and blankets could wait until he was sure the cabin would stand long enough for him to find away off the island. Something nagged at him to tell him he had an alternate reason for focusing on it this much, but that fragment of memory stayed stubbornly tucked away somewhere between when his birthday was and if he liked baked goods or not.</p><p>With that decision out of the way, he started digging a new fire pit, closer to the water line so that he and Sidon could chat while they ate. Link didn't see any reason he should have to eat alone anymore. </p><p>True to his habits and his word, Sidon made it back just after sunset and right after Link had began cooking for them. </p><p>"My friend," Sidon greeted warmly as he watched the fire with grate interest, </p><p>Link returned the smile before handing him a skewer with some of the fish. There was something endearing about how enchanted the sea monster looked with the flame. Link, of course, couldn't be certain he'd never lose his memory again, but he felt the image of Sidon blinking against the heat as he both got as close as he dared to the small cooking fire and flinched away at every spark, was going to stick with him for a good long while.</p><p>"This is for me?" Sidon asked, and after receiving a nod im response,  he earnestly replied "Your generosity astounds me," </p><p>Link couldn't help but laugh a little, some unseasoned and slightly burnt fish that Sidon had been the one to actually catch and gut wasn't exactly the most extravagant gift. Link waved him off a touch dismissively,</p><p>"No, no, this is truly a remarkable gift, my friend!" sidon returned Link's smile, "You have so little and yet you share your food! Truly you must be a man of high caliber," there was a point his praise may have veered into friendly teasing, or maybe it didn't, and Sidon was just this boisterously friendly a forthcoming with his praise all the time, Link didn't know and part of him was content with that, "If I may impose further, I've quite enjoyed getting to relax on your beach after the sun has set, and I think I'd like to continue doing so, would you allow me to bring you more fish in repayment?" </p><p>Link nodded and hid his grin behind his hand as he took a bite of his own fish before setting it down and using a stick to write out "Only if you promise to bring me nails or a hammer on your next visit," He made a face to try and get across the right tone.</p><p>Sidon rubbed his chin, "So my list right now is nails, a hammer, soap, and a blanket? "</p><p>Link signed the words back to him in the same order leaving clear dead space between each item to insure none of the gestures were muddied together before repeating "nails and hammer," and finally adding "those are the most important"</p><p>Sidon repeats the signs back, speaking each word aloud as he committed them to memory. "Nails and hammer, those are the most important, soap, and a blanket." </p><p>He grinned when he got a thumbs up in return, and settled back a little ways from the fire to finish his fish and watch Link tend to the flames. </p><p>After a quiet moment with just the sound of the fire and the water to keep the air from going dead silent, Sidon spoke up tentatively,  "I know you don't have your memories, but do you know if you were… odd? amongst the other hyllians?" Sidon winced as soon as the words were out of his mouth, "I do not mean that to be rude, but, its just… you are very different from the hyllians I've heard about my entire life." </p><p>Link's brow furrowed, he was fairly certain his inability to talk was unusual, and again, there was something nagging from some unremembered recess of his mind that said there was something that set him apart in a minor way, but besides the combination of those factors, he had always just been a fairly normal guy. Finally, after a long moment he shook his head and signed "what do you mean?"</p><p>"Ok, that was a 'what' and a 'you'… What do I mean? I mean… I thought hyllians were all supposed to be cruel and selfish and destructive. Again, no offense meant, but that doesn't seem to be true in the slightest for you, I've seen you out here every day, and you've always been hard at work fixing that cabin and building and surviving, but you still left gifts for me? even when it took you so long to make them and every second must have been so valuable," he stops himself, "Again, please excuse my ramblings, it's just been nice to speak freely." he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, </p><p>Link drummed his fingers on his knee while he thought up a response, fortunately it seemed Sidon was understanding of the pause. He wrote his words out in the sand instead of trying to simplify things enough for Sidon to parse through sign. "I don't think many hyllians are like that. There's been plenty who are, but altogether we are good. I think." </p><p>"That makes sense I guess." Sidon huffed and looked up at Link from where he laid in the sand, "I have so many questions and no idea how to ask them all, my friend. Or at least how to ask them in a way that won't be overly bothersome."</p><p>"I have some too," Link was proud to see Sidon parse the signs with only a moment to figure out the new ones from the context. </p><p>"Maybe tomorrow night, we can trade question for question?" Sidon cocked his head, "I know we may run into snags with your memory problems, but even then… I think I've learned a lot from you already and still have more left to learn," </p><p>Link nodded resolutely, "That sounds nice," </p><p>Sidon smiled a big toothy grin in response, pride in figuring out the signs, and excitement at finding answers, and a general light heartedness from making a new friend, shown through in equal measure.</p><p>And Link felt that maybe his smile returned a lot of the same sentiments.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Link's forgetting something important, hopefully That won't come back to bite him. Sidon learns how delicate hyllians can be. and Link learns about an insecurity of Sidon's</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>part way through writting this chapter i kinda realized that of the two possible perspectives i coulda used for this fic, i managed to pick the boring one. bdndnd Links just trying to not accidentally poison himself, while Sidon is dealing with [redacted] <br/>dbbddbbdb if i ever manage to finish this one i might go back and write Sidon's perspective.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Link's morning went about as well as any other had since he wound up stranded here, but there was Something wrong. What was wrong? Link certainly didn't know, he just had the pervasive sense that something had changed, a nagging little feeling at the back of his head that would wind itself up every few minutes and demand his attention. </p><p>He grit his teeth as he did his gathering and started work on pulling as many flat-ish rocks from the river bed as he could manage. He had finally managed to clear enough of the sand from his cabin to reveal the long rotten floorboards. The wood wasn't salvageable in the slightest and fell apart with only a little prodding, and without the sand trapping the smell anymore, the pervasive oder of mold had filled the damn place. </p><p>He'd need to pull all the old wood out, preferably with something to cover his mouth and nose from spores while he did,  add more sand and gravel to raise the floor level a bit and to trap whatever is left down there, before moving the stones in to use as the new flooring. He'd need to find a way to grout them in place, but for the time being the sand should keep them from drifting to much. </p><p>And of course he couldn't stay in the cabin until the mold was dealt with so he had just covered it back up until he had enough stones and an entire day to devote to just fixing this. </p><p>Link's back protested as he hefted another few stones back out of the forest. The stacks he'd started along the front of his cabin almost felt like it would be enough, maybe ten more? </p><p>He sighed as wiped his hands off, rolling his shoulders and eyeing the water. Sidon had left the fish and a blanket made from a strange silvery fiber in the usual spot, but hadn't had time to stick around and talk it seems. </p><p>The nagging feeling of something being wrong bit him again. Maybe… it wasn't that there was something Wrong per se, but he felt like he might be forgetting something important, obviously, there was a lot he was currently incapable of remembering, but this was different. It was like there was somewhere specific he needed to be or something important he needed to be doing.</p><p>He looked out over the water and up into the clear blue sky that filled that part of the horizon. Whatever it was or wherever he needed to be, it probably didn't matter all that much. It wasn't like he could actually do anything about it even if he could remember what "it" was.</p><p>He gathered the last few large stones, he knows that he'd need to go out and find smaller rocks to fill the larger spaces between them, but the sun was already starting to set and he didn't need it done tonight anyways, so he just got to work preparing the fire and getting ready to welcome Sidon. </p><p>Sidon, true to his ways, once again half beached himself just after sunset. He was grinning with barely contained excitement as he pulled off the cross body pack he'd had strung accross his back.</p><p>"My friend, I was able to snag some building supplies for you! Not even just nails and a hammer but a screwdriver and a saw and a few other things that looked like they'd be helpful!" Sidon held the bag out to Link, his tail wagging with pride at his accomplishment,</p><p>Link huffed a quiet laugh. Sidon wore every single emotion he felt so fully and unabashedly and there was something incredibly endearing about that wrapped up in his bright eyed giddiness and charm. Link reached to take the bag, his hand wrapping around the thick strap, only to be near pulled over by the sheer weight of it as Sidon let go. </p><p>The bags rough strap rushed through Link's hand, taking a fair bit of skin with it before he could coordinate his muscles enough to release it. The bag splashed down in the shallow water with a wet crash and Link would have gone with it if Sidon hadn't caught him by the shoulder with one hand.</p><p>Link managed to get his footing, and looked up to see Sidon's smile turn sheepish. </p><p>"I guess it might be a little heavy," he said with an awkward shrug,</p><p>Link shook his head and smiled reassuringly, "It's ok," he tried to sign, but closing his hand for the second part of the motion caused him to wince and fumble the third,</p><p>"Are you hurt?" Sidon reached for Link's hand after a moment of confusion, </p><p>Link looked at it, it was barely anything really, just an abrasion burn accross his palm with a tiny nick in the webbing between his thumb and pointer. He'd definitely dealt with worse scrapes before. He showed Sidon, and tried to sign "It's ok," again, this time with his left hand, but Sidon was to focused on the wound to see. </p><p>He reached out for Link's hand, carefully taking it in his own with pursed lips, "I wouldn't have tried to hand it to you if I had known you were injured, you didn't have to try and take it" he said quietly as he placed his other hand over top Link's. </p><p>Link's brow furrowed at his statement, truly, this wasn't that big if a deal, and he hadn't been injured until he dropped the bag. He wanted to interigate Sidon over this, but it didn't seem he'd be able to sign until Sidon finished… whatever he was doing. </p><p>Link flinched a bit as he felt the burn cool, and then the sting of it faded to nothing a moment later. When Sidon moved his hand to inspect the wound, they both saw it had faded completely. Link pulled away, staring at his palm in slight wonderment as he curled his fingers and ran the pads of them accross where the injury had been. Of course, he knew Sidon had been the one to heal him before, but knowing and seeing were two very different things.</p><p>"Thank you," Link signed, still confused he continued, "But, I wasn't hurt that bad," </p><p>Sidon took a moment, "Uh, you weren't… the last one was "bad" you weren't injured badly? but you were missing skin and bleeding, that must have hurt?" </p><p>Link paused, how could he explain this? The slightly rough scales of Sidon's hands had felt sturdy and strong, maybe since anything that could get through those had to be something serious he assumed any injury had to be serious? </p><p>Link bit his lip as he knelt down beside the bag, and lined the strap up with where the wound was to show Sidon that it matched the burn. "It wasn't that bad," Link signed again, </p><p>"Just dropping the bag was able to hurt you?" Sidon asked, concerned and confused, "But… Are hyllians just more delicate than I thought you were?"</p><p>Link nodded with a shrug, not a lot to do about it really, as he stood and started dragging the bag through the sand to get it out of the water. Sidon just grabbed it and lifted it to pass it the last few feet of his reach, quiet as he contemplated this new revelation.</p><p>"Thank you, again," Link signed once the bag was safe from the tide. He sat on the log he had brough out to use as a bench, and began work on preparing the fish and vegetables for cooking.</p><p>"It wasn't a problem in the slightest, but are you delicate? or is this just a hyllian trait? I always heard of you all being nearly unkillable, even waking up from a drowning sometimes if the water could be taken out of your lungs." </p><p>Link didn't bother trying to sign, instead he took a stick and wrote out his response in the sand, "We can survive a lot I think, but our skin isn't the toughest."</p><p>"Is that why you wear these?" Sidon asked as leaned over to pull on the hem of Link's shirt, </p><p>Link nodded, and wrote "They also help keep us warm," he signed the word warm, it felt like one he'd need with Sidon. </p><p>Sidon pulled his hand away, "So, when you first saw me, you fled because you were scared without the protection of these?" </p><p>Link couldn't help the blush that rose to his cheeks, what was the least mortifying way to explain this? He settled on writing it out and not signing anything to avoid Sidon asking him to clarify a sign, "Not exactly, you were very intimidating, and I was just scared of you." then separately he wrote "We just don't like being naked. It's embarrassing," </p><p>"Oh, I'm sorry for scaring you my friend," he said a bit solemnly, "Are you still scared of me?" </p><p>Link shook his head and made sure he had Sidon's attention as he signed "Not at all, not anymore," </p><p>Sidon smiled sheepishly, "That's good, I do my best to not be scary," </p><p>"Are you?" Link asked,</p><p>"Scary? I am, by zora standards at least." he shrugged, "I'm very big compared to a lot of my peers, and a fair bit faster and stronger than most of them." he offered the explanation like an apology, </p><p>Link wanted to question him, but this seemed like an open wound that didn't need prodding. So, instead he just nodded his acknowledgement and stood with his log. He only needed to move it a few feet so that he could be sat next to Sidon, instead of around the fire from him. It was a quiet gesture on Link's part, but by the way Sidon didn't speak, and just settled down so that they were shoulder to shoulder, Link knew Sidon had heard him loud and clear.</p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>a collection of scenes</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next few weeks brought an easy camaraderie between them as the cool spring breezes shifted to stifling summer heat. </p><p>Despite the season's change, their routine stayed the same. Sidon would come by everyday to visit with Link and regale him with stories of his time as a guard, patrolling the waters around the kingdom and fending off threats, or of the things he'd see on his rounds, the creatures that would swim by and the bits of gossip he heard. Truly there were days it felt like he had more words than breath. </p><p>Link, in return, would tell him what he could of hyllians, of what life on land was like, and what he'd managed to accomplish. They'd work on Sidon HSL together, slowly piecing together the language, even when Link's own memory failed him for how to sign something, they'd find a way to patch the gap. </p><p>When he first arrived on this island without his memories, the loss had seemed massive. Like there was no point in trying to make new ones until he'd found the old ones, but that ache slowly subsided. Only to come back in full force when he'd trip into one of those pits. </p><p>"You don't remember your parents?" Sidon laid with his chin resting on his forarms and the sun shining heavy on his back. Concern wasn't the right word for his expression, but neither was pity,</p><p>Link just shook his head, he sat in the shallows in front of his friend with his arms wrapped around his knees, the water soaking through his clothes. The realization had struck like a lightning bolt, that there might be someone out there missing him, but who would possibly miss him? Parents had felt like a safe guess, he probably had some, right? Or was he an orphan? Or had they passed after he had entered adulthood? Did they miss him if they did exist?</p><p>"I'm sorry, my friend," Sidon's tone was gentle, "If it makes it better, I don't remember my mother either," </p><p>Link looked at him, it didn't help, not really, but it did make something sit a little easier. For the most part Link was alone on this island, both litteraly and figuratively in this situation, with his memory being as ruined as it was, but every now and then Sidon would come ashore and make him feel like just maybe he had a chance at feeling like he wasn't stranded.</p><p>"What happened?" Link questioned, </p><p>"She was the captain of the guard, one of the best our people ever saw," pride etched his voice as he spoke of her, "I wasn't even out of my egg yet when she died. Killed in battle, but she took down many beasts with her," he nodded resolutely but Link saw the way his jaw tightened, </p><p>Link sighed and rested his chin on his knees, "What  was she like?" </p><p>"I know she was brave and respected, and that she was a shark like me, but that's about it. Nobody talks about her anymore, she isn't forgotten or anything, its just a taboo of sorts I guess," he pauses, "What do you think your parents are like? I know you can't remember them, but I'm sure you must have some guesses?"</p><p>"I don't," Link shook his head and tucked the hair that came loose from his ponytail back behind his ears before continuing, "There's nothing there. Like they never existed." his hands didn't shake, but the stilted way he gestured showed the hurt all the same.</p><p>"I may have a few guesses, just based on you," </p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"Yeah, at least one of them was probably very brave, and you had to have gotten your survival instincts and determination from somewhere. Not to mention that you're smart and kind and strong. I'd bet you got at least a few of those traits from them," he smiled up at Link,</p><p>Link returned the smile with a blush, "Was it your mother or your father you got your charm from?" </p><p>Sidon laughed deep in his chest. Though the heat under Link's skin was better attributed to the summer sun barring down on them, he felt he was basking in the warmth of Sidon's smile and laugh more than anything else.</p><p>---</p><p>He'd already managed to get the floor replaced and level, reinforced the framing, patched the roof, and had even gotten a fair way along pulling the old wall boards free to replace with new ones he had cut himself. When he allowed himself to stand back and admire all hes done a deep pride would build in his chest at the sight of his quaint homs. It wasn't just some abandoned thing he'd found and holed up in anymore. His handiwork shone from every inch, and Sidon's influence was clear too. </p><p>Link saw his friend in the strange glowing stones he'd brought Link to light his home with, and in the nails made from some alloy that might be unique to the zora, that every so often would catch the light of the sun or those stones just right to make the walls look like they were glittering.</p><p>Something nagged at him in summer heat when he looked at his cabin, it curled beside the pride and held it aloft as if trying to make a point about something. It fussed over the stones and the nails and the delicate looking but strong tools that sat in the corner of his home. It focused in hard on the little shiny things and pieces of jewelry Sidon would occasionaly bring him. This strange feeling, half-way between a conscience and a disappointed voice, seemed insistent that there was some grand conclusion he should be drawing. That once again, he was looking at the pieces of a puzzle and finding he couldn't remember the solution.</p><p>Link got into the habit of not letting himself stand idle for very long after that feeling started up.</p><p>---</p><p>"I'm going to go for a few days," Link had signed. With the days getting longer, Sidon's evening visits came before sunset now. It made some parts of their arrangement easier, Link didn't need to lean in as far to make sure his hands were still visible in the light of the fire, but part of him missed that excuse to be closer to Sidon.</p><p>"Where? Further into the forest?" Sidon asked with a cocked head,</p><p>"Nope," Link shook his head and pointed to the sheer cliff face that made up the eastern side of his cove, "I'm going up there, I want to see if I can spot anything further inland," </p><p>Sidon was quiet, the tip of his tail flicking the way it did when he got himself wound up, "That seems dangerous. what if you fall? I mean, I'm sure you could make it no problem but that is a very long drop,"</p><p>"I'm not going up the cliff face," Link rolled his eyes good naturedly, "I'm going around and up the back, and then back down the same way," </p><p>"Still, are you sure you would be ok? You said you'd be gone a few days, how long is that?" worry wrinkled his brow as he spoke,</p><p>Link reached out to him and put a comforting hand on his bicep, he would have gone for his shoulder if he could reach. He signed with one hand, which wasn't ideal considering Sidon's somewhat iffy HSL, but Link felt he was quick enough to understand it anyways, "I'll be fine, and I'll only be gone about three days. I just wanted you to know so that you wouldn't worry,"</p><p>"Thank you for warning me, my friend," He covered Link's hand with his own, "But I must ask, why now?"</p><p>"Because I have enough supplies stocked up to garuntee I have enough for the trip, and there's no more immediate work needed on the cabin, and…" he pauses how does he say this without hurting Sidon? He knows Sidon is lonely, he knows that he's one of the few connections his friend has, but he still needs to get home, and a fast way to do that would be to see if he can spot a village or town, "and I have a little bit of cabin fever, I need to explore for a bit and get away from here," it's not the whole truth, but it will have to do,</p><p>"Come back safely," Sidon says firmly, "I'll make sure to have caught the best fish i can to celebrate your return," he smiles,</p><p>"It'll only be three days," Link finally takes his hand back,</p><p>"Three days of achieving a feat no zora ever has!" Sidon jokingly exclaims, "We're not exactly the best at mountain climbing, as you might guess," he splashed his tail down in the shallows for emphasis,</p><p>"That's quitter talk," Link laughs,</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>thoughts? concerns? opinions on which horse armor in botw is better?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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